Task 1 – Stakeholders, planning, coordination and dissemination

The PINEA Project aims to provide an improved scientific understanding of stone pine productivity in relation to water and nutrients and to produce information to support the management of its stands. Thus, the involvement of stone pine stakeholders in the definition of goals, planning, monitoring, and evaluation of results is essential to guarantee that the information to be produced will have relevance for, and be applied to the improvement of stone pine management in Portugal. This Task will include the necessary dissemination of results.

The participatory approach to the PINEA Project has already started. Several informal meetings have been held with forest owners, officers from the Forest Service, representatives from Landowners Associations and forest researchers to discuss and to find a common approach to the different perspectives about priorities for information about stone pine management. Since PINEA Project involves a very large investment after it is finished, there will be funds from another project, (KBBE.2012.1.2-06) STAR TREE project: “Multipurpose trees and non-wood forest products for an innovative forestry in rural areas” in each the team of PINEA Project are partners, to measure during another two years the irrigation and fertilization trial.

The PINEA Project intends to hold at least 2 general meetings to which stone pine stakeholders will be invited. More meetings will be organized, if necessary while running the project. Chronologically, these general meetings will happen at the beginning, (a ‘kick-off’ meeting) and at the end of the Project. The first meeting will discuss the planning and coordination of the PINEA Project Tasks. The final meeting will evaluate results and discuss what was accomplished.

Every 6 months there will be a milestone meeting which will be organized with the researchers who are in the tasks involved in that milestone.

The results of the PINEA Project will be published both in national and international journals. In addition, the PINEA Project results will be published on the Project’s website www.pinuspinea.com. The website will be updated at least every 6 months and more often if necessary. The PINEA Project website has already proved to be a major platform to interact with forest researchers, landowners and managers interested in Pinus pinea research internationally. Since its establishment the website has had over 4000 visits from over 100 countries.